Xbox Game Pass price hike announced ahead of Starfield release, comes into effect next month

Things are about to get more expensive for Xbox gamers, the last thing needed during a cost of living crisis.

This week, Microsoft announced plans to increase the price of the Xbox Series X in most regions of the world, excluding the United States. In the UK it will see the cost of the new-gen machine jump from £449.99 to £479.99. Unfortunately, it’s not just the Series X console that will see a price hike, because Microsoft’s subscription service, Xbox Game Pass, is going to see an increase in price too. However, the price of Xbox Game Pass on PC will remain the same. This will only impact the service for those that play on console.

The release of Starfield is mere months away. Take a look at the latest trailer below.

So how much will the price of Xbox Game Pass increase? As reported by The Verge, the standard Xbox Game Pass will increase from £7.99 to £8.99 in the UK. In most European regions it will go from €9.99 to €10.99, and finally, the US will see an increase from $8.99 to $10.99.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will increase from £10.99 to £12.99 in the UK, €12.99 to €14.99 in most European regions, and $14.99 to $16.99 in the United States. Thankfully, this price increase will not take immediate effect. For new subscribers, the increase will arrive on 6 July 2023, whereas existing monthly subscribers won’t be impacted until 13 August 2023. Unless you live in Germany, in which case your date will be 13 September 2023.

Whether the timing of this price increase has anything to do with the release of the upcoming sci-fi RPG Starfield, we can only speculate. That being said, it does look a bit suss that this increase is happening before the launch of Starfield on 6 September 2023.

No doubt Xbox Game Pass will generate a lot of new subscribers and renewals based upon the high anticipation of Bethesda’s Starfield and it would make sense for Microsoft to capitalise, whether we agree with that or not.